The fourth-seeded Oswego State men's basketball team used a second-half surge to send No. 5 Geneseo home with a 75-59 loss in the first round of the SUNYAC Championship on Tuesday night in Max Ziel Gymnasium. It is the sixth-straight season the Lakers have reached the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
The win, head coach Jason Leone's 100th at Oswego, also sets up a rematch of last year's SUNYAC Championship title game. Oswego will face first-seeded Plattsburgh – ranked 21st nationally in this week's d3hoops.com poll – at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in the semifinal.
In the opening five minutes of Tuesday's contest, the two squads traded blows and leads. Geneseo settled in to its advantage at 15:29 with a 3-pointer and began to grow its lead to as many as eight in the remainder of the half. Heading to the locker rooms, the Knights possessed a 33-28 edge on the scoreboard.
The second half was a different story for the Lakers, as it strung together a 21-0 run over an 8:04 span in the early portions of the period and never looked back. Oswego shot 9-for-14 during that time, including 3-for-6 from deep. Conversely, the Lakers played stingy defense, forcing Geneseo into three turnovers and 0-for-10 from the field.
Three Lakers were in double-figures on the night, paced by Brian Sortino's 23 points. Sortino had 20 of his points in the second stanza while distributing a team-high five assists. Also in double-figures was Keith Tyson (23), Alex Rawa (12) and Kyle Covley (10).
All eight Lakers who saw floor time on Tuesday recorded at least two rebounds, guided by a pair of seven-board efforts from Covley and Rawa. Mykelle Krecko filled the stat sheet in 24 minutes of action, scoring seven, rebounding six, blocking five and assisting on three buckets.
Oswego continued to care for the ball, turning it over just five times against the Knights. The Lakers currently rank fourth in the country in turnovers per game (4.3) and sixth in fewest turnovers (237).
